Council Meeting ( Agenda ) 12 November 2003

A 03/04-7

Legislative Council

Agenda

Wednesday 12 November 2003 at 2:30 pm

I. Tabling of Papers

Subsidiary Legislation / Instruments	L.N. No.
Pension Benefits Ordinance (Established Offices) (Amendment) Order 2003	244/2003

Other Papers

1. No.22	-	Report of the Board of Trustees for Sir Edward Youde Memorial Fund for the period from 1 April 2002 to 31 March 2003
(to be presented by Secretary for Home Affairs)
2. No.23	-	Secretary for Home Affairs IncorporatedAudited Statement of Accounts and Auditor's Report for the year ended 31 March 2003
(to be presented by Secretary for Home Affairs)

II. Questions

1. Hon James TIEN to ask:

The Government has advised that it will award the construction and operation of the entire 40-hectare West Kowloon Cultural District development project to a single developer by tender. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	whether it has assessed if the project's scale will reduce to only a few number of developers capable of bidding, and will result in restricting the choice of bidders, an undesirable tender price, and the Government placing itself in an unfavorable position in negotiating the details of the project with the successful bidder; of the reasons for not considering splitting the project and inviting separate tenders, or putting up the part of the land earmarked for commercial uses for sale by tender, so as to use the land sale proceeds for developing recreational and cultural facilities;
(b)	as the culture and art sectors have expressed concern that assigning the development of the cultural district to profit-oriented developer(s) might eventually turn it into a place unworthy of its name, whether it plans to conduct a new round of consultation with these sectors on the approach to be adopted for the development; if so, of the details of the consultation; if not, the reasons for that; and
(c)	of the monitoring measures in place to avoid the project deviating from its original objectives, in terms of construction and long-term operation?

Public Officer to reply : Chief Secretary for Administration

2. Dr Hon David LI to ask:

At the eleventh informal meeting of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation ("APEC") leaders in Bangkok, the State President said on 20 October 2003 that the Chinese Government would officially implement the APEC Business Travel Card Scheme from November this year. This allows a business traveller from an APEC economy participating in the Scheme to travel to Mainland China without a visa, and enjoy streamlined immigration clearance. At present, only those Hong Kong residents holding a Hong Kong permanent identity card may apply for an APEC Business Travel Card. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	whether it knows if a Hong Kong resident holding an identity card, be it the Hong Kong permanent identity card or the Hong Kong identity card, and a valid national passport can take advantage of the Scheme to enter and exit the Mainland for business travel; and
(b)	if Hong Kong residents holding a Hong Kong identity card and a valid national passport cannot benefit from the Scheme, whether the Administration knows if the Mainland authorities will introduce a similar scheme for these Hong Kong residents to travel between Hong Kong and the Mainland?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Security

3. Dr Hon LAW Chi-kwong to ask: (Translation)

It has been reported that the appointment procedures and employment terms of the chairperson of the Equal Opportunities Commission ("EOC") who has just resigned, as well as the recent dismissal of the Director of Operations designate, who was to report for duty this month, has aroused controversy among the public and called into question the independence and credibility of EOC. Moreover, according to the principles relating to the status and functioning of national institutions for the protection and promotion of human rights ("the Paris Principles") endorsed by the United Nations, an institution responsible for human rights affairs should be independent, not be subject to government interventions, given as broad a mandate as possible and adequate funding for performing its functions and have pluralism of membership. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether:

(a)	it has assessed if the authorities have acted in accordance with and adhered to the Paris Principles in the appointment of the chairperson and members of EOC; if it has, of the assessment results;
(b)	it will follow other countries' practice of formulating codes requiring statutory organizations responsible for human rights affairs to have adequate transparency, impartiality and accountability in their operations; and
(c)	it has plans to take measures to safeguard the reputation of EOC and restore public confidence in EOC?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Home Affairs

4. Hon Ambrose LAU to ask: (Translation)

It has been reported that the Central Government supports the development of a bond market in Hong Kong, and our country has chosen Hong Kong to be the first stop of the international tour to promote this year's global issuance of foreign currency national bonds amounting to one billion US dollars and 500 million euros. In October this year, the Vice-Minister of Finance came to Hong Kong to promote the bonds to local officials and over 200 fund managers. This batch of national bonds will be put up for off-market listing in the Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Ltd. Moreover, the low interest environment has also generated a great demand for bonds in the market. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	of the progress in streamlining bond issuance procedures; whether the authorities have plans to introduce measures for enhancing the work in this respect; if they have, of the details;
(b)	of the incentives and related measures to attract local and overseas institutions and enterprises to issue bonds in Hong Kong; and
(c)	whether it has plans or measures to develop Hong Kong into a centre for China's foreign currency national bonds and for Mainland enterprises to issue foreign currency bonds; if it has, of the details?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury

5. Hon Abraham SHEK to ask:

Will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	of the current ratio of Correctional Services Department ("CSD") staff to prisoners, and how this ratio compares with that five years ago;
(b)	of CSD's expenditure on prisons in the past financial year, broken down into expenses on various items including staff remuneration, facilities and equipment, and the provision of medical services for prisoners, as well as the respective average daily costs of confining a male and a female prisoner in the year; and
(c)	whether the total expenditure on the confinement of prisoners has increased over the past five years; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Security

*6. Hon Albert CHAN to ask: (Translation)

It is learnt that in undertaking public works projects, the Government may pay Tun Fu fees to the people concerned when they claim that the projects will adversely affect the "fung shui" of their villages. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council of:

(a)	the total amount of Tun Fu fees paid out over the past three years and, among those payments, the sum paid through contractors of government projects, together with the project name, reasons for paying the fees, amount paid and name(s) of payee(s) in each case;
(b)	the measures in place to ensure that public officers approve Tun Fu fees in accordance with the established criteria; and
(c)	the monitoring measures in place for ensuring that the contractors make full payment of Tun Fu fees to the intended payees?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Housing, Planning and Lands

*7. Hon Miriam LAU to ask: (Translation)

The drink driving legislation has been amended to tighten the statutory limit for blood alcohol concentration from 80 to 50 mg of alcohol per 100 ml of blood, and the amendment has come into effect since 1 October 1999. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	of the number of accidents involving drink driving and its percentage in all traffic accidents in each of the past three years; and
(b)	whether it has assessed if the tightening of the drink driving legislation has helped reduce traffic accidents; if so, of the assessment results; if not, the reasons for that?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for the Environment, Transport and Works

*8. Hon Kenneth TING to ask: (Translation)

Will the Government inform this Council how the Customs and Excise Department will deploy its manpower to deal with the work required for implementing the Mainland and Hong Kong Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement, such as the verification of places of origin and factory inspections? Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Commerce, Industry and Technology

*9. Hon Mrs Sophie LEUNG to ask: (Translation)

In a motion debate at the Council meeting on 3 July this year, I urged the Government to expeditiously set up a border industrial zone. The Secretary for Commerce, Industry and Technology responded at the meeting that he and his colleagues in the Special Administrative Region Government would seriously consider the issue further. It was reported that some members of the business community had recently proposed to the Chief Executive that a special border industrial zone should be set up. On 19 October this year, the Chief Executive told the media that the proposal would be studied seriously with a new way of thinking. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	whether the Administration and public bodies have so far conducted studies or assessments on the utilization or development of the border areas; if they have, of the timetables and the progress of such studies or assessments; if the studies or assessments have been completed, of the results; if no study or assessment has been conducted, the reasons for that;
(b)	whether the studies or assessments in (a) above include the study that the Chief Executive referred to; if not, of the details of the Chief Executive's study and the government department that is responsible for the study, as well as the timeframe for releasing the findings; and whether the authorities will consider setting up an inter-departmental task force to co-ordinate the study; if not, the reasons for that; and
(c)	whether the authorities, when conducting the studies or assessments mentioned in (a) and (b) above, have taken into account the views of the parties and organizations concerned, such as local and foreign investors, the Guangdong Provincial Government, the Shenzhen Municipal Government and the relevant departments; if so, how their views were collected and assessed; if not, the reasons for that?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Commerce, Industry and Technology

*10. Hon CHAN Yuen-han to ask: (Translation)

Will the Government inform this Council whether it knows, in respect of the past three years:

(a)	if the Hong Kong Trade Development Council ("TDC") engaged private organizations to conduct studies; if it did, of the names of the organizations, the respective names of the studies, the time and amount of money required, and the percentage of the study fees in TDC's annual operation costs;
(b)	how the number of exhibitions organized by TDC each year compared to that of the exhibitions held locally by the private sector during the same year;
(c)	the criteria or assessment mechanism adopted by TDC for deciding whether an exhibition should be organised, and whether they included if private organizations had organized similar exhibitions; and
(d)	among the exhibitions organized by TDC, the number of those which had themes and target audiences similar to those organized by private organizations during the same period?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Commerce, Industry and Technology

*11. Hon Emily LAU to ask: (Translation)

If civil servants or judicial officers to whom pensions have been granted are re-appointed to the public service, or appointed to service in any subvented organization, the authorities usually suspend the payment of the monthly pension to them during the period of their service. However, the Chief Executive ("CE") may exercise his discretionary power to allow them to continue to receive their pensions during the period concerned. In this connection, will the Executive Authorities inform this Council:

(a)	of the factors the CE normally takes into account before deciding whether to exercise the discretionary power;
(b)	of the number of cases in which the CE exercised the discretionary power in the past three years and, in respect of each case, the name of the retired officer, the public service taken up by him and the reasons for his being allowed to continue to receive his pension; and
(c)	as there have been comments that the continued receipt of pensions by the officers concerned during the periods of their service amounts to double benefits and abuse of public funds, whether the authorities will consider amending the legislation to abolish or tighten up the provisions on the CE's exercise of the discretionary power; if so, of the timeframe for introducing such amendments; if not, the reasons for that?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for the Civil Service

*12. Hon Michael MAK to ask: (Translation)

It has been reported that the Hospital Authority ("HA") is preparing a prescription list and plans to require doctors of public hospitals to refer to the list when making prescriptions. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether it knows:

(a)	the reasons for HA's preparing the list and the process of its preparation, as well as the contents of the list;
(b)	HA's timetable to put the list into effect;
(c)	the criteria adopted by HA in determining the drugs to be included in the list;
(d)	if HA will formulate guidelines whereby doctors may prescribe drugs not on the list upon the request of patients; if so, of the details of such guidelines; and
(e)	if HA has assessed whether its expenditure on drugs will be reduced with the adoption of the list; if that is the case, of the reasons for that and the magnitude of the reduction?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food

*13. Hon NG Leung-sing to ask: (Translation)

Will the Government inform this Council whether:

(a)

it knows if the Guangdong authorities prohibit the private transfer of the licences they issue for private cars from Hong Kong/Macau to enter/exit the Mainland; if so, whether the relevant mainland authorities have discussed with the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region ("HKSAR") how they would curb such illegal transfers or collaborated with the HKSAR Government in this respect, and if there have been discussions or collaboration, of the achievements; and

(b)

the Administration has received any views from the public on issues such as the Guangdong authorities' procedure for granting licences, application eligibility and the adequacy of the number of licences granted to meet the cross-border economic and trade needs; if so, whether it has reflected such views to the Guangdong authorities and the responses it has received; if not, whether the Administration will take the initiatives to look into the issues and present its views to the Guangdong authorities?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for the Environment, Transport and Works

*14. Hon Fred LI to ask: (Translation)

The Government invited tenders for the sale of five petrol filling station sites in June this year, and abolished the requirements that bidders should hold an import licence and supply contract. Newcomers interested in entering the retail markets may therefore opt to purchase oil from other market players, or have their fuel storage facilities located outside the territory. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	of the number of successful bidders that have indicated that their fuel storage facilities would be located outside the territory; and the estimated amount of fuel that these companies will store outside the territory for supply to Hong Kong in the coming year;
(b)	whether it has assessed if the result of this tender exercise will intensify competition in the fuel retail market; if so, of the assessment result;
(c)	given that oil companies can have their fuel storage facilities located outside the territory, of the measures it has in place to ensure that fuel stored in Hong Kong will be maintained at a level sufficient for 30 days' consumption; and
(d)	whether there are agreements between the Government and the oil companies requiring the latter to store a sufficient level of fuel to meet the demand of Hong Kong; if there are, of the details of the agreements?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Economic Development and Labour

*15. Hon Howard YOUNG to ask: (Translation)

The major shareholder of the holding company of the New World First Bus Services Limited acquired the holding company of the Citybus Limited in June this year, and indicated its intention to commission an independent professional consultant to review the feasible options for cooperation of the two franchised bus companies. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether:

(a)	it has assessed if the savings to be achieved by the cooperation of the two bus companies will provide room for downward adjustment of their bus fares; if it has, of the assessment result; if not, the reasons for that; and
(b)	it has received proposals from the two bus companies concerning bus route rationalization, and whether it will ask the two companies to extend their respective bus routes into the districts which are now served by the other company only, and jointly launch concessionary bus-bus interchange schemes?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for the Environment, Transport and Works

*16. Hon SIN Chung-kai to ask: (Translation)

The Copyright (Amendment) Ordinance 2003 will come into operation on 28 November this year. Under the Ordinance, civil and criminal liabilities pertaining to the parallel importation of and subsequent dealings in articles which have embodied in them a computer program will be removed, except for a few specified types. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether, for implementing the Ordinance, it will:

(a)	step up enforcement actions against copyright piracy activities, so as to prevent the exploitation of this opportunity to fake pirated goods as parallel imports; if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and
(b)	enhance public education and publicity work, such as educating consumers in distinguishing if articles with embodied computer programs are parallel imports or pirated goods; if it will, of the details?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Commerce, Industry and Technology

*17. Hon CHOY So-yuk to ask: (Translation)

Will the Government inform this Council of the number of non-ethnic Chinese persons who applied for the status of Hong Kong Permanent Resident in each of the past three years and the number of those whose applications were approved, as well as the successful applicants' original nationality and the numbers of years they had resided in Hong Kong when making their applications? Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Security

*18. Hon LAU Kong-wah to ask: (Translation)

Late at night on the 26th of last month, the driver and passengers of a public light bus ("PLB") in motion were robbed by two criminals posing as passengers. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	whether there is any information indicating that the two criminals might have been Mainlanders; if so, whether the exchange of intelligence with the relevant Mainland authorities has been enhanced to crack down on such cross-border crimes; and
(b)	of the measures in place to assist the PLB trade in preventing the recurrence of similar robbery?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for Security

*19. Ir Dr Hon HO Chung-tai to ask: (Translation)

It has been reported that a traffic accident occurred when I-beams fell out from a moving platform truck which had been converted from a container truck. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)	of the total number of traffic accidents involving converted goods vehicles in the past three years;
(b)	whether legislation is in place to regulate converted goods vehicles; if so, of the details; and
(c)	whether guidelines on conveyance of goods are issued to drivers of goods vehicles; if so, of the details; if not, whether the authorities will consider issuing such guidelines?

Public Officer to reply : Secretary for the Environment, Transport and Works

*For written reply.

III. Members' Motions

Improving public transport fare system

Hon Andrew CHENG:

(a)	discuss with various franchised bus companies ways to improve their existing fare structures and the setting of full and sectional fares of each bus route according to the distance of the journey, so that the fare structures become more transparent and reasonable and fares paid by each passenger are as fair as possible; and
(b)	examine jointly with various public transport operators the feasibility of issuing daily, weekly and monthly tickets that can be commonly used on various modes of public transport, so as to facilitate local passengers and tourists who need to use them to commute frequently, as well as to alleviate the burden of travelling expenses on them.
Amendment to Hon Andrew CHENG's motion Hon LAU Kong-wah: (Translation) To delete "in regard to public transport fare system," after "That,"; to add "expeditiously discuss with various public transport operators to seek a 10% reduction of fares across the board and the re-introduction of half-fare travel concessions for students, and to encourage them to co-operate in offering more joint concessions and, in regard to public transport fare system, to" after "this Council urges the Government to"; to delete "and" after "(a) discuss with various franchised bus companies ways to improve their existing fare structures" and substitute with ", expeditiously revise the scale of fares under the Public Bus Services Ordinance as well as reformulate existing guidelines on the setting of fares, and study"; and to add "on condition that the burden on long-haul passengers will not be increased" after "the setting of full and sectional fares of each bus route according to the distance of the journey". Amendment to Hon LAU Kong-wah's amendment Hon Albert HO: (Translation) To delete "and" after "the re-introduction of half-fare travel concessions for students,"; to add "and to expeditiously implement a procedure and mechanism for public transport fare adjustment which allow increase as well as reduction in fares" after "to encourage them to co-operate in offering more joint concessions,"; and to add "and the groupings of routes in the scale" after "expeditiously revise the scale of fares".

: Secretary for the Environment, Transport and Works

Election of the Chief Executive and all Members of the Legislative Council by universal suffrage

Hon James TO:

: Secretary for Constitutional Affairs

Clerk to the Legislative Council

Legislative Council

Agenda Wednesday 12 November 2003 at 2:30 pm

Agenda

Wednesday 12 November 2003 at 2:30 pm